Bettina Gilois

Bettina Gilois is an award-winning screenwriter and author, whose nominations and awards include an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Writing of a Television Movie, the HBO film "Bessie," as well as two NAACP Image Award nominations, a Humanitas Prize nomination, two Black Reel Award nominations, and two Movieguide Award Best Movie wins for "Glory Road" and "McFarland USA". After acquiring an art history degree from Columbia University and working at Andy Warhol's Factory, she began her writing career with Joel Silver and Warner Brothers.Gilois has since worked with such notable artists and producers as Jerry Bruckheimer, Joel Silver, Joel Surnow, Lili and Dick Zanuck, Kevin Costner, Norman Jewison, Martin Campbell, Niki Caro, James Coburn, and Christian Bale. Her films include Jerry Bruckheimer's "Glory Road," and uncredited work on "The Mists of Avalon" with Anjelica Huston and "The Hurricane" with Denzel Washington. Her film, Disney's "McFarland USA" starring Kevin Costner, has won the Cesar Chavez Award and the Most Moving Pictures Award as well as the Movieguide Award for 10 Best Movies of the Year for Mature Audiences. Her HBO film, "Bessie," starring Queen Latifah, has won the Critic's Choice Award for Best Movie Made for Television as well as garnering 12 Emmy nominations and winning an Emmy for Best Movie. Her movie "The Lost Wife of Robert Durst" was released in November 2017 on Lifetime. She is the writer/creator of the 2020 series "Muscle Shoals," based on the true story of Rick Hall, with Johnny Depp producing, and George Tilman directing. She also wrote the 2020 television movie, "Mahalia," for Lifetime. She is also writer/creator of "Enlightened," a series for MGM and Amazon. Also writer/creator of "Last Clear Chance," a series for ABC and Chelsea Handler Productions. In addition to writing screenplays, Gilois has authored several books. She also writes for the Huffington Post in the Arts and Culture section.